Business

Residents cite lack of notification

ByDAN BARKER Times News Editor

Posted:
04/11/2012 10:47:08 PM MDT

In reaction to what appears to be dumping of mud used in hydraulic fracturing for oil wells, some Morgan County residents complained to the Board of Morgan County Commissioners Tuesday that they had not been notified when a parcel of land near their homes was rezoned for commercial use.

They live north of Interstate 76 and south of Highway 144 on the west of Log Lane Village. They said it appears that a nearby business is dumping mud used for fracking on a piece of land that was rezoned commercial property in 2008.

Resident Ted Curtis said he worried about what night happen to the groundwater under that area, and said that he had not been aware of the change.

He said he thought homeowners were supposed to be notified when there were changes of this kind, but he had not been directly notified, and his neighbors had said they had not been notified.

The property had been rezoned to commercial during a large-scale overhaul of the zoning in 2008, said Andy Blake of the Morgan County Planning and Zoning Department.

An announcement had been put in The Fort Morgan Times, but it was impossible to individually notify every landowner when doing a project of that size, he said.

The property of the complaining residents was not directly affected, Blake noted.

An agricultural property south of the area in question was changed to commercial at the request of the owner.

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During wide-scale rezoning, individuals can request rezoning as a part of the process.

The process is a little different from when an individual requests rezoning individually, outside of a countywide rezoning, said board Chairman Tony Carlson.

In an individual circumstance, if a person requests a zoning change, neighbors are notified of the request. However, that does not happen in a countywide rezoning, he said.

The county published the changes in the newspaper as required by law, and that is all that is currently required, Carlson said.

Morgan County Commissioner Laura Teague said she appreciated the residents' concerns, but the board cannot just go back and change what was done without opening up the whole zoning process again.

That means the county has to move on from what it has now, Carlson said.

Curtis said he hoped in the future the county will directly notify people who would be affected by a change near their property.

He said that since regulations do not allow those doing fracking to dump the mud used at the well sites, the mud is being dumped here, which is worrisome.

Blake said the county does not have specific regulations on dumping or storage of fracking mud.

If the residents wanted to make a complaint about the mud, they might want to contact the Northeast Colorado Health Department, Teague said.

Teague also said that zoning regulations need some clarification, which will happen in the future. She said that the current board would make a point of contacting landowners adjacent to property which would have its use changed.

However, the former board thought the public was adequately notified, Teague said.

The county probably does need to address fracking mud dumping, she said.

Resident Phil Pascoe said he did not object to the commercial venture as such, but said the failure to directly notify the neighbors gives the appearance that the commercial site was trying to sneak in.

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